Supporting and sealing member



Jan 3, 1950 A. L. STONE I SUPPORTING AND SEALING MEMBER Filed Dec. 20, 1947 II III INVEN TOR.

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A TORNEY Patented Jan. 3, 1950 UNITED "STATES PATENT OFFICE as-. Oil

Development Company, Elizabeth, N. 1., a cor Application December 20, 1941, Serial No. 792,892

poration of Delaware I 4 Claims.

The present invention is directed to an assembly for supporting a pipe and for sealin adjacent said supported pipe.

It is often desirable to support-a section of pipe and to provide a fluid-tight seal for an annular space around the supported'pipe. For ex ample, in the completion of a well producing oil and gas it is customary to provide a string of tubing through which the production may pass. This string of tubing is customarily arranged within a string of casing and the tubing may be supported from the casing and the annular space between the casing and the tubing sealed oil. In many wells it is customary to use a number of strings ofcasing arranged concentrically and to support each of the inner strings of easing from the outer string of casing with the annular spaces between the strings of casing packed off. The conventional procedure for supporting and sealing a string of tubing within a string of casing is to locate the tubing at the proper height in the well, then place a rubber-like-packer either above or below the set of slips; a Christmas tree is then attached above the sealing means and supporting means. If the packer is placed below the slips-the weight of the slips keeps it under compression. If the packer is placed above the slip it is customary to use a self-sealing packer.

Another operation where it is sometimes desirable to seal the annular space between an inner and outer string of pipe is when drilling wells with the rotary'method. Here when a blowout is feared it is desirable to seal the space between a string of easing cemented into the borehole and the drill stem while supporting the drill stem. At the present time it is conventional to provide a separate means for sealing oil, the space and another means for supporting the drill stem.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a means for supporting a section of pipe from a member while simultaneously sealing the space between the supported pipe and the'memhen other objects and advantages of the present invention may be seen from the following description taken in conjunction with the .drawing, in which Fig. 1 is an elevation partly in section'showin an embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a view taken along line 11-11 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary view showing a portion of the device of Fig. 1 with no load or a light load supported from the assembly;

Fig.4isaframentaryviewofthesameportions illustrated in Fig. 3 but showing the podthe space (on. zen-22) 2 tion assumed by the parts when a heavy load is supported; and

Fig. 5 is an, elevation partly in section showing another embodiment of the present invention.

Turning now specifically to the drawing, a supporting assembly A of a generally annular shape has an inner wall ll defining a central passage with an' upwardly facing shoulder 12 tapering upwardly and outwardly to define a seat for the slip assembly. Assembly A may be a casinghead or a tubing head orv may be the head of a blowout preventer. It will be understood that assembly A is shown only diagrammatically and if desired holes may bedrilled in the .fiange for attaching other equipment. It will be understood by a workman skilled in the art that any one of a number of designs or patterns of heads may be employed for assembly A.

A section of pipe I3 is supported from assembly A by means of assembly 13. Assembly B simultaneously serves .the function of supporting pipe is from assembly A and sealing the annular space between the outerwall of pipe l8 and the inner wall of assembly A.

Assembly B consists of a plurality of segments ll. Each segment defines an outer wedge-shaped wall I5 and inner wall l6 provided with a plurality of teeth l1. Segments ll are mounted radially in assembly B. A readily deformable or elastic structural material l8 bonds members it together to form a unitary structure having the form of a split annulus and in addition a layer thereof covers the upper surface. the lower surface, wedge surface [5 and the inner surface I6 of each slip member. In the drawing it will be seen that the teeth I! project through openings in deformable material i8 and engage frictionally with pipe I! to support it. It is preferred to shape the teeth ll in the form of a pyramid so that when they project through the coating of deformable material they will grip pipes i3 without disturbing the seal provided'by deformable material It.

The deformable or elastic material is may be a synthetic rubber or natural rubber which is capable of being firmly bonded to segments M by vulcanization. In the manufacture of the assembly B it is usually convenient to mold material ll .will be forced through the thin layer of rubber.

formable material l8 adjacent the particles deforms, and the supporting assembly A or A seats in the slip bowl to support the load and seal the space between the load and the slip bowl. It is to be emphasized that the assembly of the present invention proyides a means for supporting a pipe under abnormal as well as normal conditions and will at all times maintain a fluid-tight seal between the supported pipe and the supporting member.

The employment of readily deformable material between the segments enables the slip assembly to resist torque as well as to support the weight of a section of pipe. For example, if an attempt be made to rotate the pipe with respect to body A or A, the separate segments l4 will move slightly away from radial position causing an edge of each segment to bite into the pipe, thereby resisting the torque exterted on the pipe. It will be evident that when the assembly is resisting torque, it is adapted to maintain a fluidtight seal between the supported pipe and the" supporting member.

Another advantage of the present application is the relatively light weight of the assembly B or B. For example, if natural rubber is selected as a bonding material, it has a specific gravity of slightly more than 1.3 while steel has a specific gravity of 7.8. The arrangement of relatively thin flat segments of steel separated by the deformable material having a low specific gravity enables the construction of an assembly which is relatively light in weigh While I have disclosed a specific embodiment of the present invention it will be apparent to a workman skilled in the art that changes in the sizes, shape and proportions of the parts of said assembly may be made without departing from the scope of the invention.

Having fully described and illustrated a preferred embodiment of the present invention, what I desire to claim as new and useful and to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. An assembly for supporting pipe comprising, in combination, an annular member defining an upwardly facing supporting shoulder tapering upwardly and outwardly, a slip assembly adapted to cooperate therewith for holding a section of pipe comprising a plurality of radially arranged segments provided with inner toothed faces and outer wedge faces, readily deformable structural material securing a plurality of sections together in a fluid-tight assembly with readily deformable material covering at least a. portion of the inner face of each segment.

2. A device adapted for sealing and supporting pipe comprising, in combination, an annular shaped member defining a central passage with an upwardly facing shoulder adjacent thereto and sloping upwardly and outwardly away from -nular member having a portion of its inner surface defining a central opening and an upwardly facing shoulder joining thereto and defining a shoulder tapering upwardly and outwardly, a plurality of slip segments each segment defining an inner surface having a plurality of pyramid teeth and an outer wedge-shaped surface tapering upwardly and outwardly at the same angle as the shoulder of the annular member, readily deformable sturctural material bonded to each of said segments to form a unitary annular mass with a radial slot extending the length thereof and with at least a portion of said deformable material on the inner face of each slip member.

4. A slip assembly comprising, in combination, a plurality of slip segments each having an inner toothed face for engagement with a tubular member to be gripped and an outer wedge face for contact with a slip bowl and readily deformable structural material bonding a plurality of segments together radially to form a fluid-tight annulus with readily deformable material covering at least a portion of the inner face of each segment.

ALBERT L. STONE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Gailloux July 14, 1942 

